78 posts in this topic

I won't blame the last guy as much as I'll blame the first three, but our PK hasn't been up to snuff the last 2/3 years and obviously this year it has been a disaster.

It's almost as if Babcock has this mindset: the guys on the 3rd and 4th lines will play the penalty kill.

If that is his thought process, considering who are our 3rd and 4th line players, then it is flawed. Penalty killers need to have a high hockey IQ. They need to be able to anticipate where the puck is going, play angles, and have the athleticism to attack the puck carrier without putting the rest of their linemates in jeopardy.

We used to field our best players on the PK: Pav, Hank, The Captain, Fedorov, etc. I realize that using Pav and Hank on the PK now is risky due to endurance issues, but we lost a 2-0 twice because of taking stupid penalties and then the PK couldn't hold up.

I noticed Miller, Emmerton, and Abdelkader particularly last night how they would stay in the box and not pressure the puck carrier whatsoever and to boot they were playing pretty deep inside the blue line giving the point men A TON of space.

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I won't blame the last guy as much as I'll blame the first three, but our PK hasn't been up to snuff the last 2/3 years and obviously this year it has been a disaster.

It's almost as if Babcock has this mindset: the guys on the 3rd and 4th lines will play the penalty kill.

If that is his thought process, considering who are our 3rd and 4th line players, then it is flawed. Penalty killers need to have a high hockey IQ. They need to be able to anticipate where the puck is going, play angles, and have the athleticism to attack the puck carrier without putting the rest of their linemates in jeopardy.

We used to field our best players on the PK: Pav, Hank, The Captain, Fedorov, etc. I realize that using Pav and Hank on the PK now is risky due to endurance issues, but we lost a 2-0 twice because of taking stupid penalties and then the PK couldn't hold up.

I noticed Miller, Emmerton, and Abdelkader particularly last night how they would stay in the box and not pressure the puck carrier whatsoever and to boot they were playing pretty deep inside the blue line giving the point men A TON of space.

Need a change....

That is the passize box. I don't know why the coaches haven't attempted a active/aggressive appraoch, but that is not on the players.

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Guest Crymson

As others have noted, Ericsson's return will pay dividends. As much as I've criticized the guy, he's very important on the PK. Huskins did quite well also. Carlo going down may have been a blessing in disguise.

On the subject of defensemen, did any of you notice Kindl throwing his size around last night?

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Guest The Axe

As others have noted, Ericsson's return will pay dividends. As much as I've criticized the guy, he's very important on the PK. Huskins did quite well also. Carlo going down may have been a blessing in disguise.

On the subject of defensemen, did any of you notice Kindl throwing his size around last night?

Kindl takes way more abuse than he should. It amazes me how people around these parts dont understand the difference between legit NHL youngsters and longshot prospect youngsters.

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Kindl takes way more abuse than he should. It amazes me how people around these parts dont understand the difference between legit NHL youngsters and longshot prospect youngsters.

I didn't see the game but it's good to hear Kindl was using his size a little.

I'm hard on him because he plays so much smaller than he is. At 6'3" 216 lbs. he's bigger than guys like Kronwall, Quincey and Smith, all who are more physical. He's about to turn 26 so is not really a youngster and is going on his third full season in the NHL. Plus he was taken in the first round at #19, which is the highest draft pick the Wings have had in years.

He has a lot of great qualities but can't seem to get it together. The most frustrating to me of all is not only the lack of using his size but how timid he is going in to corners. I've seen him bail out of a play to keep from getting hit way too many times.

Hopefully he does get it together because the Wings will need all the help they can get this season on the blueline.

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Guest The Axe

I didn't see the game but it's good to hear Kindl was using his size a little.

I'm hard on him because he plays so much smaller than he is. At 6'3" 216 lbs. he's bigger than guys like Kronwall, Quincey and Smith, all who are more physical. He's about to turn 26 so is not really a youngster and is going on his third full season in the NHL. Plus he was taken in the first round at #19, which is the highest draft pick the Wings have had in years.

He has a lot of great qualities but can't seem to get it together. The most frustrating to me of all is not only the lack of using his size but how timid he is going in to corners. I've seen him bail out of a play to keep from getting hit way too many times.

Hopefully he does get it together because the Wings will need all the help they can get this season on the blueline.

He will. We will all be liking Smith, Kindl, Ericsson, Lashoff for 10 years. They are all young, big, and good skaters. Just need confidence and intensity.

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As others have noted, Ericsson's return will pay dividends. As much as I've criticized the guy, he's very important on the PK. Huskins did quite well also. Carlo going down may have been a blessing in disguise.

On the subject of defensemen, did any of you notice Kindl throwing his size around last night?

I agree with you on the point about the PK, and I did think that Kindl was playing a little more physical. Hopefully he keeps that up once he gets back into game shape.

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Might be one of the few that got this South Park reference, but it made me lol.

While there's supposed to be efforts from the Refs to remain consistent, there's a horrible inconsistency when it comes to calling games. Sometimes you get games like last night where you have 7+ minor penalties called against you, and some you are gonna see two called in the game total. I think last night can be half blamed on the Refs gettiing whistle happy and the other half dumb avoidable penalties. Mostly by Cleary.

Hopefully we don''t see a whole lot more games like last night where we are in the box for over a half period of the game.

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Guest Crymson

PK has been awful since Todd McClellan left after 07-08. Its been longer than you remember lol.

I don't think that #10 in 2009-2010 qualifies as "awful." That is rather good. Neither do #17 in 2010-2011 and #18 in 2011-2012, which instead fall into the middling range. Only in 2008-2009 was the PK below #20.

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